Presses are used extensively in fabricating sheet metal and other workpieces. Many different fabricating presses are available. For example, a variety of turret presses can be used. Typically, these presses have an upper turret that holds a series of upper tools at locations spaced circumferentially about its periphery, and a lower turret that holds a series of lower tools at locations spaced circumferentially about its periphery. With such a press, the turrets can be rotated about a vertical axis to bring a desired tool set into vertical alignment at a work station. By rotating such upper and lower turrets, an operator can bring a number of different tool sets sequentially into alignment at the work station in the process of performing a series of different fabricating operations.
Platen-type presses can also be used. Typically, these presses have a square or rectangular platen that holds a plurality of tools at multiple stations spaced about the platen. The press has a ram that can be positioned over any station of the platen. Pivatic is one well-known manufacturer of platen-type presses.
Multi-tools have been devised for presses. Multi-tools allow a number of different tools to be available at a single station of the press. Thus, instead of having a single punch at a desired station of the press, a multi-tool carrying a number of different punches can be provided at the desired station. With a multi-tool of this nature, any of the punches carried in the multi-tool can be selected and indexed to an operable position. Then, when a ram of the press acts on the multi-tool, only the selected (or “activated”) punch is moved forcefully into engagement with the workpiece.
In conventional press operations, when the ram is actuated, it only acts on the tooling at a single station of the press. This is the case whether the station is equipped with a multi-tool or a single tool. This can be appreciated by referring to FIG. 2, which illustrates the arrangement of stations on one particular turret press. Here, the turret press has 58 stations, each shown as a circle representing a mount opening passing through the upper turret table. (Skilled artisans will appreciate that virtually any arrangement of stations can be provided.) With a turret press of this nature, the ram can be positioned over any desired station, at which point the ram is actuated so as to accelerate a tool mounted at the desired station. This causes the accelerated tool to strike and deform the workpiece.
The same is true of platen-type presses. FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of stations on a platen-type press. (Here again, virtually any arrangement of stations can be provided. In addition, the shape of the platen will vary.) With a platen-type press of this nature, the ram can be positioned over any desired station, at which point the ram is actuated so as to accelerate a tool mounted at the desired station, causing the accelerated tool to strike and deform the workpiece.
Thus, with current tooling, a single ram stroke only actuates one station of the press. It would be desirable to provide tooling that allows a single ram stroke to simultaneously actuate multiple stations. Such tooling would create a wide range of new fabrication opportunities.
As one example, conventional tooling has limitations as to the maximum size of the deformation (hole, bend, form, etc.) that can be made in a single operation (e.g., in a single hit). For instance, if a desired deformation is longer than the workpiece-deforming surfaces of a conventional tool set, then multiple operations may be required to create the full length of the deformation. This is inefficient and costly, since it may require multiple hits, multiple tool sets, or even multiple machine tools to produce the desired deformation. A very long form, for example, cannot be made by a single hit with conventional tooling on a turret press or a platen-type press. Thus, it would be desirable to provide tooling that allows large forms (and other large deformations) to be made by a single ram stroke on such presses.